As of April 13, Beijing time, the global number of confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia exceeded 1.84 million, and the Number of confirmed cases in the United States exceeded 550,000, and in China, the epidemic has also taken away thousands of living lives. How many families have suddenly changed in the happy moment of preparing for a family reunion, and can only watch as the virus ruthlessly deprives relatives, friends, and colleagues of their lives. Before the epidemic, many people did not understand the meaning of cherishing, and even did not have such a deep feeling for the farewell of life. Today, the animated short film "Far Away" may better help us understand the meaning of cherishing.
Adapted from the original book of the same name by the famous British animation studio Aka, the film won the 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Children's Awards best picture award and the 2009 Chicago International Children's Film Festival Children's Jury Award for Best Animation, with a Douban score of 8.9 points.
The film is about a lonely penguin who breaks into a little boy's home, and in the face of a penguin that cannot be driven away, the little boy can only send it to the lost and found office, but the staff of the lost and found office says that no one has lost the penguin. In desperation, the little boy can only leave with the penguin and find a way to place him. While consulting the materials in the library, the little boy learned very coincidentally that penguins live in Antarctica. So the little boy made his own wooden boat, packed his luggage, and embarked on a journey with the penguin to find himself.
Before watching this anime, I, like most people, rarely felt the meaning of cherishing in my life journey. It is always a matter of course to have something, and it is always until it is lost that what you once had is so precious. A wave of the hand, a goodbye, a turn, and sometimes even these are not, and the beauty we are accustomed to disappears and leaves unexpectedly. When I went back to the crowd to look for it, I found that I couldn't find it anymore, and I couldn't help but cry at this time, how sorry!
The length of this film is very short, the story is warm and healing, with the help of a journey between a little boy and a penguin, it is revealed that life is a process of constantly finding ourselves, we inadvertently encounter life in this process, and we inadvertently understand the meaning of cherishing, and the emotional connotation behind it is worth our deep thinking.
The penguin breaks into the little boy's world and looks very "incredible". One ordinary morning, the little boy's toast was just stuffed into his mouth, and he was about to finish breakfast and play with the ducks as usual, when the doorbell suddenly rang, and outside the door was a dazed penguin, stubbornly trying to enter the door. And the other people in the room were busy with the things at hand, going their own way, and no one noticed this strange guest, only the little boy who was busy checking, busy inviting the uninvited guest of the house away.
In the first shot, the director lays down a portrayal of real social phenomena - we always lose the discovery of life in the busy chase, always accustomed to existence, and the philosophical dialectical relationship between gain and loss in life is intriguing.
(1) The artistic style of the picture book, the fresh and childlike tone reveals the adult fairy tale-like life feeling
Picture books were originally recorded by primitive humans using pictures to carve on rock walls, ceramics, etc. to narrate events, and today's picture books are mostly used to help children build a spiritual world and cultivate multiple intelligences. Therefore, most picture books will expose too "pretentious" childishness. However, this picture book adaptation of the film is a good avoidance of this "minefield", the characters are simple and cute, the picture is fresh and natural, and it is a well-received "clear stream" when 3D animation is popular today.
Moreover, this short 24-minute animation, with no dialogue, only narration, is more impressive than those clichéd preaching. Children enjoy the film, can make their hearts happy, the spiritual world rich, and adults can also get thinking from the emotions behind the simple story, suitable for all ages, which may be the charm of "Far Away".
The little boy took the penguin to the land of Antarctica, and said goodbye to the penguin reluctantly, and on the way back, a group of photos of the penguin treasured in the suitcase caused the little boy to ponder, and the bits and pieces of the past were presented in front of the little boy's eyes at that moment. The fear of loss may have welled up in his mind, and the little boy hurriedly turned around to find the penguin, and the penguin also did not give up on the boy, riding a small umbrella and paddling with his fins to chase the little boy. Eventually, the little boy is reunited with the penguin.
It was a very happy ending, and the ending was clearly designed with its audience in mind— children. As adults, we can't help but ask: what is so beautiful in real life?
Why do we have such doubts?
Because the difference between reality and fairy tales is that reality does not have the beauty of fairy tales. After parting, it is difficult for us to see each other again; even if we say goodbye, it is difficult to recognize each other; even if we recognize each other, things are not human. The reality is so cruel that we adults know it well.
(2) The dialectical relationship between gain and loss is expounded in a simple story
In the journey of self-search, it is always beautiful to have friends with you, and from the film, it is not difficult to find that the little boy is a lonely person. So many people watch the movie, sighing that this story should resonate with many lonely children, or people who were once lonely. For such a lonely child, a precious friendship is the most beautiful gift given by God. However, the little boy was rejected at first, and even felt that the penguin was a hindrance to life, and tried his best to send it away.
However, what was rejected at first has now become unwilling. Because the little boy gradually had feelings in the company of the penguin, embraced the friendship again, and now what was lost before is once again gained, and the beauty of it is experienced. The little boy's before and after transformation of the penguin is precisely the dialectical relationship that embodies the mutual transformation of gain and loss.
It is not difficult for us to find that in real life, when we get something, there will always be various reasons that lead to its loss, and after losing, it will be regained for various reasons. Gain is the beginning of loss, the beginning of losing and getting another, and the transition between gain and loss. The dialectical relationship of mutual transformation of gain and loss can also be understood as a kind of interaction relationship.
Penguins are caught off guard in the life of the little boy, this friendship can be said to be easy to get, the little boy naturally will not know how to cherish, nor will he imagine that one day facing separation will be so heartache and reluctance. As the film's narrator puts it: "You never thought it would be so hard to say goodbye to someone who is in your life force, especially when you imagine it happening." "
Because they don't care, they may lose quickly, and they will come unexpectedly. From the process of getting and losing from the little boy, it is not difficult to find the way to get, which correspondingly affects the process of loss, and also affects your final feeling of loss, and your feelings affect the way you treat the next gain. This can also be proved by the fact that we always inadvertently understand the meaning of cherishing, and we can only know how to cherish after losing.
The pattern of the little boy and the penguin in the cartoon is also very similar to the way we get along with our lovers, relatives and even friends in real life. It is always a person who is envious of the other, but this person will never cherish, or even reject, complain. The child hates her mother for controlling herself; the husband hates his wife for nagging at him; the girlfriend does not understand himself and persuades her to stay away from the scumbag... Obviously it is an intimate relationship, and finally in the long-term relationship, it becomes more and more indifferent, and the relationship is also coming to an end, and finally it is painful to think about it and regret it deeply.
Why do people always know how to cherish after losing?
(1) The inertial life pattern established when possessed is broken by the fact of loss, making people anxious and uneasy
After the penguins broke into the life of the little boy, they had many common memories: they built a small wooden boat to the South Pole together; they went to the library to check the materials together; they met the yellow ducks floating on the sea together; they helped each other against the storm at sea and successfully reached the South Pole..... There are too many things to do together, those once bits and pieces have become the habit of the little boy's life state, originally lonely, he also from the rejection of slowly get used to and even rely on the existence of penguins, but this inertia of life mode, but in the moment of separation, was broken.
It is not difficult to find that once our habitual life pattern is broken, anxiety and insecurity follow. The more you lose, the more you will recall people and things that you have ignored, and the more serious the negative emotions of anxiety and uneasiness. Because we never thought when we had it, our dependence on these people and things was so deep that we could form a habit in life, and the habit became a dependence instinct over time.
(2) Only by losing and experiencing the process of grief can we re-recognize its value
Arriving at the other side of the Antarctic, the little boy breathed a sigh of relief and embarked on the journey home, but the beautiful and sad memories slowly came to mind, and the occasional group photo let the little boy understand that the past bits and pieces were the most practical happiness, and these bits and pieces also succeeded in rekindling the little boy's sense of need for friendship at that moment.
When he was playing alone, only the ducklings were accompanied, but the toy ducklings were put back into the flock of yellow ducks floating on the sea. The toy duck that the little boy encountered at sea is actually real in real life. On January 29, 1992, a group of toy ducks customized by the American Fuxier Company from the Chinese toy factory were riding a cargo ship to the United States, but halfway in the Pacific Ocean suddenly encountered a storm, about 30,000 toy ducks scattered on the sea.
The film cleverly sets up this clip, on the one hand, it implies that the little boy and the penguin are about to face the sea storm, and the friendship between the two will also be sublimated in the struggle against the sea storm, on the other hand, putting his own ducks back into the duck flock, metaphorically the little boy has inadvertently understood the value of friendship at this time. Lonely self, meeting partners who appear in their lives, and experiencing the beauty of having friends together, but I don't know how precious this beauty is.
Watch the little boy naturally put his little duck back into the sea, and slowly "merge" with the ducks around him. I think that maybe he thinks that his little duck needs the company of other ducks to be less lonely; or maybe he has the company of penguins at this time, and the need for the companionship of the ducklings is not so strong. In short, the little duckling at this time is far less precious to the little boy than the friendship with the penguin.
There are no friends, no ducklings, adults are busy making a living and have no time to take care of themselves, and when there is nothing that can replace the little boy's dependence and habits on the penguins, the little boy re-recognizes the value of the penguins to himself at the moment of his final separation. Moreover, on the short journey home by rowing his own boat, the little boy really felt the loss and experienced the process of grief. At that moment, the value and meaning of friendship became more and more profound, and the little boy also understood the meaning of cherishing and completed the search for himself in this journey.
It all starts with someone getting lost and someone finding it, but who can say which is which? - A classic quote from Far Away
The little boy and the penguin have achieved their best selves for each other on their journey, and it is the completion of a two-way self-search. I have to admit that the animation adapted from this picture book explains to us in a healing way that life is a process of continuous gain and loss, and it is particularly important to cherish the present in this process.
From this animation, we can also learn how to cherish what we have now and grasp the value of life.
(1) Cherish what you have with a crisis awareness mentality
In psychology, people's needs are arranged according to the hierarchy of priorities, often one need is met, the other need will control your behavior and heart, the replacement of the old and new needs, directly affecting people's tendency to take what they already have as a matter of course, especially without special efforts and struggles, what is easily obtained will not be cherished.
Therefore, the theory of needs for the replacement of old and new tells us that it is necessary to "experience" the loss of those who are taken for granted with a crisis-conscious mentality. Only by being aware of the threat of loss and feeling the pain of loss can we deeply appreciate the meaning of what we have, and we will spare no effort to protect important things.
(2) Return to the original heart and do not forget the original intention
Life is a process of gain and loss, but the process is only a few decades, time will pass faster and faster, and desire will not catch up with the pace of time. Instead of chasing those desires in life that cannot be sought, loved, and cannot be put down, and imprisoning yourself in a deep obsession, you may wish to return to your original intention and see what you were. Think about why you need so many friends, not alone in the beginning, then since you already have a true friend to accompany, why do those pig friends and dog friends need so much?
Through a journey of a little boy and a penguin, the short film "Far in the Sky" perfectly explains the meaning of cherishing for us in a fresh and warm atmosphere. Life is just a process of getting and searching, inadvertently encountering life, and inadvertently understanding the meaning of cherishing.
Cherishing is to interpret in time, love and care in time, enjoy and learn to be content in time, and to guard with heart before people and things disappear.
Cherish what we have now; cherish the happiness that is still around us; cherish the gift of fate; cherish the coming of feelings; cherish everything in the moment, we can do it, and when we lose, there is no regret.